


Pearl

by LunaChi_KuroShihone



Series: Gemstones [12]
Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Holy Grail, Humor, Knights - Freeform, Old Friends, Regret, a little bit of backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 17:40:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7767154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaChi_KuroShihone/pseuds/LunaChi_KuroShihone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different reality, a different choice, a different fate:</p>
<p>Watch as the Knights of the Round are Summoned, their reactions and thoughts in These fleeting minutes. Short Chapter-Snippets as they look upon the Once and Future King, living not a life of bloodshed and betrayal, but of love and happiness.<br/>Watch as Saber meets friends of old, and tears are shed.</p>
<p>Each Chapter is Stand-Alone in a Parallel Universe, and each focuses on one of the Knights. They are roughly a little more than 1000 Words Long each.</p>
<p>Eleven down; the fair Queen, Steward, the loyal friend, the best Knight, the White Knight, the Traitor Son, the True Hero of the Grail Quest, the Other True Hero of the Grail Quest, The-Father-who-is-not-one-of-the-Knights-but-an-Assassin, the Archer who Doubted, the not quite King and the Third True Hero of the Grail Quest</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pearl

The room was coated in a brilliant light as the summoning circle flared to life, the ambient prana dancing like fireflies in the air.

Some of that prana turned thicker; a column in the middle if the circle. The whirlwind ceased, as the prana turned more solid, and a breath later, a Servant was standing in the room, back straight and attentive.

He was clad in armor, a spear at his side, announcing him as a Servant of the lance to all who were present.

Bowing formally, he introduced himself, "My Master, upon your summoning, I have come forth. I am the Servant Lancer."

He waited patiently, never looking up, until a strangely familiar voice called for him to raise.

Thus he did, coming face-to-face with a red haired man and a blonde woman.  
The blonde was smiling at him in a way that left him stunned, and Lancer had to forcefully turn his gaze away from her.

A second passed.

"…beg me pardon, but which one of you is my Master?"

"That would be me," the man answered. A smile graced his lips as he continued, "my name is Emiya Shirou; it will be a pleasure working together, sir Knight."

Lancer raised his eyebrow at the blatant wording. This magus apparently researched whom he wished to summon, no artifact notwithstanding.

That was a welcome surprise. "I see. I'm surprised that you know of me, considering the feats of my brothers-in-arms and their popularity surpasses my own."

The familiar blonde snorted disdainfully.  
"You sell yourself too short, Bors."

Ah, they truly knew who he was.

She continued, her voice laced with something sounding like fondness, "even if many modern tellings leave out the third member of the search. Still; all knights were important, and none shall be forgotten."

Lancer raised an eyebrow. "I thank you, Milady, but I give credit where credit is due: Galahad was the one to obtain the Grail, with Percival dying a heroes death. I merely sent word of it to our King."

And he was one of the few surviving the mad search, with his companions _gone_ —

Shirou was grinning at him, Lancer noted and wondered why. Had he said something stupid?

"And yet, if you had not returned, I would never have gotten word of your accomplishments, no? I probably would have sent more knights after a quest that was fulfilled."

Lancer looked surprised at the blonde, who had something resembling a grin -halfway between guilty and haughty, as if she had won the argument- and he wondered at her personalisation of the King's role.

His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, "May I be frank with you, Milady?"

She nodded, so he continued, "might you be, perhaps, _King Arthur_?"

Her grin turned into a soft smile, and a small laugh escaped her. "I am, quite the observation." it turned even softer, "It is good to see a familiar face, Bors."

He smiled himself, somehow not at all surprised that King Arthur was a girl. There was always something effeminate about their ruler, as ruthless as he might be in battle.

"Likewise, lord King." after a short second of contemplation —if it should be Queen instead— he left it as it is. The King will always be a King, no matter her gender.

Lancer turned his gaze to his Master, who was silently waiting at the sidelines, a fond smile gracing his lips. "…"

He turned his gaze back at his King, who smiled back.

Finally he asked, "You seem to know each other?" his gaze narrowed slightly, grip strengthening, "how is it that the King is so at ease around you, if it took us immense feats to even gain her trust?"

There was a short second where they registered his words and—

The next minute, Lancer vowed, would be forever remembered by him.

His King's face turned the shade of a tomato, and her hands crept up to cover her face, slowly. It was such a surreal occurrence that he had to take a step back, blinking.

His Master - Shirou - sighed good naturedly, turning to him.

"…you have to excuse her. The whole 'showing emotions' is still being worked on."

Sure enough, she glared at him, and Lancer had to smile. The amount of positive emotions she displayed was already in a greater range than what he had ever seen.

With a shrug, he dematerialized his spear and the heavier parts of his armor. "Whatever the case, I'm happy for you, Milord."

She was obviously enjoying the Modern Age, as she was no Servant- and who was he to deny his King the right at everyday life? Especially after she offered him such, after his return -heart and spirit both broken by the 'death' of both his blood-brothers for the search of a cup he himself never believed in.

Biting down the bitter taste in his mouth, Lancer turned his attention outwards, barely enough to catch the end of the actual explanation.

"…we married. Bors, are you even listening? Bors-"

His brain stilled. At least, that was how Lancer felt. They were _married_?!

"Lucky bastard," he muttered, _did Shirou actually know how many of the normal soldiers or knights wished to be acknowledged by the King? To be called by name by him?_

(Or, how many of the common folk, man and woman alike, were in love with her?)

Shirou blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Lancer snapped out of his grumblings. "I said I'm happy for you."

The King raised an eyebrow. "What? No _'how dare you do that'_ , no _'I will kill Shirou in his sleep with a spoon'_ ," there was a clear 'hey' from his left, "no stupid comments?" she blinked, "…that is quite nice."

Lancer raised an eyebrow of his own, "Why were you expecting something like that? You are your own person, you make your own decisions. What did you expect, that I ask him if his intentions were true? "

(He did glare pointedly at Shirou though. Better safe than sorry.)

"I…no, actually, you are completely right, Bors."

There was a short pause in which she glanced into Shirou's direction, before looking back at him and smiling. "Thank you."

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I am a firm believer that Bors was the only sane knight between the core 12. I mean, Lancelot was prone to berserk outbursts, Mordred was plain crazy probably, Percival and Galahad were rather 'naive', Gawain did what Saber told him, without any doubt, Gareth was a Lancelot-fangirl, Gaheris I dunno, Kay was a sarcastic snark, Bedivere had a moral compass but did everything to see the King smile, Agravain was an assassin, Tristan was, well... Tristan; you get it. And until now, he's the only knight who didn't have any bias towards or against Saber, too, in this series.


End file.
